Agenda item

The Transitional Arrangements No.2 Regulations 2008 required a new Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy to be in place by 1 April 2022. Following delays arising from the pandemic and service restructure, work had now been undertaken to develop a new draft strategy for consideration and adoption.  To ensure that the Council could adopt its new Homelessness Strategy within a reasonable timeframe, Cabinet was asked to consider and comment on the draft strategy ahead of a public consultation process, with a view to the final version of the Strategy being submitted to full Council for consideration and adoption on 27 April 2022.  The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had been updated and notified of the timetable for adopting the Strategy by the end of April 2022.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the draft Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy be noted.

(2)          That authority be delegated to the Leader of the Council to make any final amendments to the draft Strategy (following feedback from Members and the completion of the public consultation exercise), and to agree the final version of the Strategy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Regulatory Services.

(3)          That the final version of the Homelessness Strategy, as agreed by the Leader of the Council, be submitted to full Council for consideration and adoption.

The Transitional Arrangements No.2 Regulations 2008 required a new Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy in place by 1 April 2022. Following delays arising from the pandemic and service restructure, work had now been undertaken to develop a new draft strategy for consideration and adoption.  To ensure that the Council could adopt its new Homelessness Strategy within a reasonable timeframe, Cabinet was asked to consider and comment on the draft strategy ahead of a public consultation process, with a view to the final version of the Strategy being submitted to full Council for consideration and adoption on 27 April 2022.  The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had been updated and notified of the timetable for adopting the Strategy by the end of April 2022.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Regulatory Services reported that this Strategy would replace the existing legacy Councils Strategies. A series of stakeholder events had been held during November and December. Due to the tight timescales it had not been possible to go through a full public consultation before Cabinet but this was being undertaken alongside Cabinet. The Strategy would be reviewed annually to ensure that it was fit for purpose. It was currently a high level plan which would need to be formulated into a costed action plan. There were some existing capital budgets committed which were earmarked for delivery for the affordable housing and homelessness strategies. There was no growth for additional funding set aside but there was flexibility in the Annual Homelessness Grant of £1.4 million and a further opportunity to bid for the Rough Sleepers Grant. The Service Director for Housing and Regulatory Services reported that the proposed Strategy gave seven key challenges which had led to five priorities for the Council and the Service and under those priorities there were 43 proposed actions which support the service delivery.

Cabinet sought additional information on the Strategy and during the discussion the following points were noted:-

·         This was an important piece of work and tribute was paid to the work of moving people into alternative accommodation during the pandemic. The Strategy emphasised the need to work across all portfolios e.g. teenagers who were presenting as homeless which had been raised in the recent Ofsted report, the links to Safeguarding Boards and Community Safety Panel and domestic abuse strategy. The Cabinet Member reassured Members that the service area worked very closely with other portfolio areas and becoming a unitary council had meant even closer liaison.

·         Reference was made to the hidden homeless where people were staying temporarily with friends and families or people being evicted by private providers.

·         There were 300 people housed during the covid period which was an immense task. Buckinghamshire had been rough sleeping free.  It was confirmed that the Voluntary and Community Sector, other partners such as Housing Associations and the Covid Recovery Board had been consulted in putting together the Strategy. The Cabinet Member congratulated officers for their work on the Strategy. The Deputy Cabinet Member referred to the work during the pandemic; pre pandemic there were 34 rough sleepers and there were now 7 rough sleepers and 4 of those had been offered accommodation. There had been 200 rough sleepers during the pandemic. With reference to the VCS there was the Outreach Programme where they go out to speak to the homeless and help deal with their issues to refer them to Oasis (Addiction Service) or Probation, where people have been released from prison with no accommodation. There was some homeless accommodation coming on line for 34 people which included Hightown Housing and Wycombe had 11 units coming on board and the Council were working with the YMCA. The key factor was to address the issues that had caused homelessness in the first place e.g. employment agencies that help people who had left prison find work.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the draft Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy be noted.

(2)          That authority be delegated to the Leader of the Council to make any final amendments to the draft Strategy (following feedback from Members and the completion of the public consultation exercise), and to agree the final version of the Strategy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Regulatory Services.

(3)          That the final version of the Homelessness Strategy, as agreed by the Leader of the Council, be submitted to full Council for consideration and adoption.